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20 8 2002 La Pa, Bolivia - Forgot your cellphone at home? Or is your battery running low? The solution to your problem may be in downtown La Paz. Cellular providers like Viva, Telecel and Entel have hired a small army of 20-somethings to wander the streets and act as moving phone booths. Dressed in fluorescent yellow or green vests emblazoned with slogans like "Calling is easy", they carry cellular phones attached to their waists by chains about three feet (one metre) long. When a customer approaches, they dial the number and the client can talk for as long as they please. At about 14 US cents a minute, calls on these phones are often cheaper than the calling plans telecommunications firms offer to long-term customers. The system is so popular that the mobile cellphones are now more ubiquitous in La Paz than stationary public phones. Clients say they like the convenience. "It's funny because I have my own cellphone," said 23-year-old lawyer Ninoska Duran, cradling her cellphone on a street corner on Tuesday. "But I just ran out of credit and I needed to make a quick call. I often use these people when that happens, until I can go and buy more credit." The walking phones also offer jobs in one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, where unemployment is 12 percent and rising. "I spend the whole day out here. It's good work," said Eric Carrillo, a 20-year-old walking phone man, dressed in baggy jeans and fashionable oval glasses. "It used to be easier a few months back but now there's a lot more competition, all the companies are doing it," he said
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